1

Adapted from Rappaports

Chapter 6
Modulation Techniques for Mobile Radio
2
Modulation is the process of encoding information from a
message source in a manner suitable for transmission.

May be done by varying the amplitude, phase, or
frequency of a high frequency carrier in accordance with
the amplitude of the message signal.
3
Modulation
Modulating
Baseband Signal
Modulated
Bandpass Signal
f f
c
>>
f
High Frequency Carrier
Bandpass+Noise
Demodulation
Baseband Signal
Extracting the baseband
message from the carrier
4
6.1 Frequency modulation vs. Amplitude Modulation

In FM, frequency is varied by the modulating signal, the
envelope is kept constant.

* Provides a nonlinear and very rapid improvement in reception
quality.

* Better noise immunity.

* (next page)

5
* Possible tradeoff between bandwidth and SNR

* Possible use of class C amplifier (better power efficiency)

* Resistant to co-channel interference
6
Disadvantage of FM

* Require a wider freq. Band

* More complex equipment

* Special attention given to phase characteristics
7
In AM, a linear relation between the quality of received
signal and the power

* Occupying less band width

* The use of in-band pilot tones to compensate for amplitude
fluctuations
(adaptively adjust the receiver gain)

* Need to use the Class A or AB amplifier
8
6.2 Amplitude Modulation

Per Figure 6.1 (P.258)
(6.1)

Per Figure 6.2 (P.259),the spectrum

(6.5)

where
: the unit impulse function
m(f) : the message signal spectrum
) ( o
9
10
Modulation index (also called percentage modulation)
(6.2)

Bandwidth
(6.6)

Power
(6.8)
11
12
13
6.2.1 Single Side Band AM (SSB AM)
* Per Fig 6.3 (P.261)
a side band filter
a balanced modulator

{
14
6.2.2 Pilot Tone SSB
Low level pilot tone can be used to reduce the effects of
Doppler Spreading and Raleigh fading
Per Figure 6.4 (P.263)



15
6.2.3 Demodulation of AM Signals
Per Figure 6.5 (P.264)

16
6.3 Angle Modulation

The angle of the carrier is varied according to the
amplitude of the modulating base band signal

Frequency modulation + phase modulation
17
Frequency Modulation
(6.16)


where
A
c
: amplitude of the carrier
f
c
: carrier freqiency
k
f
: freq. deviation constant


(6.17)

18
Phase modulation

(6.18)

FM PM
Freq. modulation index

(6.19)

where is the peak frequency deviation of the transmitter f A
19
20
6.3.1 Spectra and Bandwidth of FM signals



(6.21)
(6.22)


For AMPS,
m f
m f
A K f
kHz f
= A
= = 4 , 3 |
21
22
6.3.2 FM Modulation Methods
* Direct Methodvoltage-controlled oscillators(VCOs) are used to
vary the frequency of the carrier signal in accordance
with the baseband signal amplitude variations.


23
* Indirect Method

24
6.3.3 FM Detection Techniques
* Slop Detector

25
* Zero-Crossing

26
* Phase-Locked Loop

27

* Quadrature Detection
28
29
30
6.3.4 Tradeoff between SNR and Bandwidth in an FM Signal
31
6.4 Digital Modulation---an Overview

Advantages of Digital Modulation

Greater noise immunity and robustness to channel
impairments

Easier multiplexing of various forms of information (voice,
data, video)

Greater security
32

Allow digital transmissions accommodate digital error-
control codes which detect and/or correct transmission
errors, and support complex signal conditioning and
processing techniques such as source coding, encryption,
and equalization to improve the performance of the overall
communication link.

Possible to be implemented completely in software.

33
6.4.1 Factors that influence the choice of digital modulation

Provide low BER at low received SNR (power efficiency,
energy eff.)

Perform well in multipath and fading conditions

Occupy a minimum of bandwidth (Bandwidth eff.)

Easy and cost-effective to implement

Depending on the demands of the particular application,
trade-offs are made when selecting a digital modulation.


34
Performance of a modulation scheme is measured in terms of

Power efficiency
* Describes the ability of a modulation technique to preserve the
fidelity of the digital message at low power levels.

Often expressed as required at the receiver input for a
certain probability of error (say 10
-5
)
where
E
b
: signal energy per bit
N
0
: noise power spectral density
0
N
E
b
35
Bandwidth efficiency

* Describes the ability of a modulation scheme to accommodate data
within a limited bandwidth.

* Reflects how efficiently the allocated bandwidth is utilized and is
defined as
(6.36)


* The system capacity of a digital mobile communication system is
directly related to the bandwidth efficiency of the modulation
scheme.
(Hz)
(bps)
B
R
B
= q
data rate
bandwidth
36
* a fundamental upper bound on achievable bandwidth efficiency.

Shannons channel coding theorem states that for an arbitrarily
small probability of error, the maximum possible bandwidth
efficiency is limited by the noise in the channel, and is given by

(6.37)

where

c is the channel capacity in bps,
B is the RF bandwidth, and
S/N is the signal-to-noise ratio.
) 1 ( log
2
max
N
S
B
C
B
+ = = q
37
In the design of a digital communication system, very
often there is a tradeoff between bandwidth efficiency and
power efficiency.

For example
* Adding error coding to a message,
bandwidth efficiency , but reduces the required power for a
particular bit error rate.

* On the other hand, higher level modulation scheme (M-ary keying),
bandwidth efficiency , but increase the required received power.

+
|
38
39
40
6.4.2 Bandwidth and Power Spectral Density of Digital Signals

Various definitions of signal bandwidth are based on some
measure on the power spectral density (PSD) of the signal

* Absolute bandwidth

* The first null-to-null bandwidth

* Half-power bandwidth (3 dB bandwidth)

* FCC adopts the rule of occupying 99% of the signal power as the
bandwidth

41
6.5 Line coding

Often use line codes to provide particular spectral
characteristics of a pulse train.

* RZ (return-to-zero), NRZ (non-return-to-zero), Manchester codes.

* Unipolar (with voltage levels being 0 or V) or bipolar (with
voltage levels being either V or -V)

42
* RZ code implies that the pulse returns to zero within every bit
period. This leads to spectral widening, but improves timing
synchronization.

* NRZ code, on the other hand, do not return to zero during a bit
period, that is, staying at constant levels throughout a bit period. It
is more spectrally efficient, but offers poorer synchronization
capabilities. Additionally, because of the large DC component,
NRZ line codes are used for data that does not have to be passed
through DC blocking circuits such as audio amplifier or phone
lines.

* Manchester code is a spectral type of NRZ line code that is ideally
suited for signaling that must pass through phone lines and other
DC blocking circuits, as it has no DC component and offers simple
synchronization.
43
44
45
6.6 Pulse shaping Techniques
when rectangular pulses are passed through a bandlimited channel, the
pulse are passed through a bandlimted channel, the pulse will spread in
time, and causes intersymbol interference (ISI).

It increases the probability of the receiver making an error in detecting
a symbol.

The ways to minimize the ISI
* Increase the bandwidth
* Suppress out-of-band radiationspectral shaping.

Spectral shaping is done through baseband or IF processing.
* Nyquist Criterion, Nyquist filters
s
T f
2
1
0
>
46
47
48
* Raised Cosine Rolloff Filter

- The most popular pulse shaping filter used in mobile
communications

- Belongs to the class of filters which satisfy the Nyquist
criterion
49
50
51
52
* Gaussian Pulse-shaping Filter

- It is also possible to use non-Nyquist techniques for pulse
shapping

- Gaussian pulse-shaping is particularly effective when used in
conjunction with Minimum shift keying (MSK) modulation.

- Used when cost is a major factor and the bit error rates due to
ISI are deemed to be lower.

53
54
55
6.7 Geometric Representation of Modulation Signals

For a total of M possible signals, the modulation signal set S can be
represented as

(6.55)


For M-ary keying scheme, it is possible to transmit a maximum of
log2M bits of information per symbol.

It is instructive to view the elements of S as points in a vector space.

Then, any finite set of physically realizable waveforms in a vector
space can be expressed as a linear combination of N orthonormal
waveforms which form the basis of that vector space.

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For BPSK scheme,
(6.59a)

(6.59b)

* the basis signal
(6.60)

* then, the BPSK signal set can be represented as
(6.61)

* the BPSK constellation diagram
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58
A constellation diagram

* Provides a graphical representation of the complex envelope of
each possible symbol state.

* The X-axis represents the in-phase components, and the y-axis
represents the quadrature component.

* The distance between signals relates to how different the
modulation waveforms are, and how well a receiver can
differentiate between all possible symbols when random noise is
present.
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* The number of basis signals is also called the dimension of the
vector space, and they are necessarily orthogonal to one another.

* The bandwidth occupied by the modulation signals decreases as
the number of signal points/dimension increases.

* The probability of bit error is proportional to the distance between
the closest points in the constellation.

* A simple upper bound for the probability of symbol error

(6.62)

60
6.8 Linear Modulation Techniques

In linear modulation techniques, the amplitude of the transmitted
signals, s(t), varies linearly with the modulating digital signal, m(t).

(6.65)

Linear modulation techniques are bandwidth efficient, but must be
transmitted using RF amplifiers which have power efficiency.

Using the power efficient nonlinear RF amplifiers could cause severe
adjacent channel interference, and results in the loss of all the spectral
efficiency gained by linear modulation.

Then, how to get around these difficulties?

61
6.8.1 Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK)

The phase of signal is switched between two values
according to the two possible signals m
1
and m
2

corresponding to binary 1 and 0

That is, the transmitted BPSK signal is either

(6.66a)
or

(6.66b)
62
the PSD of a BPSK is shown as below.









63
BPSK Receiver is shown as Fig 6.23(P.297).










The bit error probability

(6.74)

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6.8.2 Differential Phase Shift Keying (DPSK)

BPSK uses coherent (or synchronous) demodulation,
which requires that information about the phase and
frequency of the carrier be available at the receiver.

Different PSK is a noncoherent form of PSK which avoids
the need for a coherent reference signal at the receiver.

Noncoherent receivers are easy and cheap to build, and
hence are widely used in wireless communications.

In DPSK, the input binary sequence is first differentially
encoded and then modulated using a BPSK modulator.

65

The differentially encoded sequence {d
k
} is generated from
the input binary sequence {m
k
} by complementing the
modulo-2 sum of m
k
and d
k-1
, that is, d
k
=
1

k k
d m
66
Block diagram of DPSK transmitter and receiver.
67
While DPSK signaling has the advantages of reduced
receiver complexity, its energy efficiency is inferior to that
of coherent PSK by about 3dB

(6.75)

68
6.8.3 Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK)

QPSK has twice the bandwidth efficiency of BPSK, since
2 bits are transmitted in a signal modulation symbol.

(6.76)

69
The bit error probability of QPSK is identical to BPSK

(6.79)

Similar to BPSK, QPSK can also be differentially encoded
to allow noncoherent detection.

70
The PSD of a QPSK
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6.8.4 QPSK Transmission and Detection Techniques
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6.8.5 Offset QPSK (OQPSK)

To prevent the regeneration of side-lobes and spectral
widening, it is imperative that QPSK signals be amplified
only using linear amplifiers, which are less efficient.

A modified form of QPSK, called offset QPSK is less
susceptible to those effects and supports more efficient
amplification.

OQPSK signaling is similar to QPSK, except for the time
alignment of the even and odd bit streams.
74
75
In OQPSK, the even and odd bit streams, m
I
(t) and m
Q
(t),
are offset by one bit period (half-symbol period).

Consequently, the maximum phase shift of the transmitted
signal at any given time is limited to , and does not
cause the signal envelop to go to zero.

Same in bandwidth with QPSK, but retains the bandlimited
nature even after nonlinear amplification.

90
76

6.8.6 QPSK
A compromise between OQPSK and QPSK in terms of the
allowed maximum phase transmissions.

In QPSK, the maximum phase change is limited
to , as compared to for QPSK and for
OQPSK.

Hence,
* it preserves the constant envelop property better than QPSK
* But is more susceptible to envelop variation than OQPSK

It can be noncoherently detected, which greatly simplifies
the receiver design.

4
t
4
t

135

180

90
77
Further, it also performs better than OQPSK in the
presence of multipath spread and fading
When differentially encoded, called QPSK.


4
t
78
6.8.7 QPSK Transmission Techniques
4
t
79
80
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6.8.8 QPSK Detection Techniques

Baseband differential detection
4
t
82
83
IF Differential Detector
84
FM Discriminator
85
6.9 Constant Envelop Modulation

The constant envelop family of modulation has the
advantages of satisfying a number of conditions.

* Power efficient Class C amplifiers can be used without introducing
degradation in the spectrum occupancy.

* Low out-of-band radiation

* Limiter-discriminator detection can be used, which simplifies
receiver design.

But, they occupy a larger bandwidth than linear
modulation schemes.

86
6.9.1 Binary Frequency Shift Keying (BFSK)

The frequency of a constant amplitude carrier signal is
switched between two values according to the two possible
message states.

(6.95a)

(695b)

where is a constant offset from the nomial carrier frequency. f A t 2
87
The common method for generating an FSK signal is to
frequency modulate a signal carrier oscillator using the
message waveform (continuous FSK).

This type of modulation is similar to analog FM generation,
except that the modulating signal m(t) is a binary
waveform.

88
Therefore, FSK may be represented as


(6.97


The transmission bandwidth of an FSK
(6.98)

where B is the bandwidth of the digital baseband signal.

89

The probability of error

* for a coherent FSK

(6.101)


90
* for a noncoherent FSK

(6.102)


91
6.9.2 Minimum Shift Keying (MSK)

A special type of continuous phase FSK wherein the peak
frequency deviation ( ) is equal to half the bit rate, that
is, the modulation index is 0.5.

A modulation index of 0.5 corresponds to the minimum
frequency spacing that allows two FSK signals to be
coherently orthogonal, and the name MSK implies the
minimum frequency separation that allows orthogonal
detection.

Sometimes referred to as fast FSK, because the frequency
spacing used is only half as much as that used in
conventional noncoherent FSK.
f A 2
92
Figure 6.38 shows the power spectral density of an MSK
signal

93
MSK Transmitter and Receiver
94
6.9.3 Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK)

A derivation of MSK

In GMSK, the sidelobe levels of the spectrum are further
reduced by passing the modulating NRZ data waveform
through a premodulation Gaussian pulse-shaping filter.
95
Figure 6.41 shows the simulated RF power spectrum of the
GMSK signal for various values of BT, where BT is the
3dB-bandwidth-bit duration product of the filter.

96
While the GMSK spectrum becomes more and more
compact with decreasing BT value, the degradation due to
ISI increases.
97
GMSK bit error rate

(6.112a)




GMSK Transmitter and Receiver




98
99
100
101
6.10 Combined Linear and Constant Envelop Modulation
Techniques

Depending on whether the amplitude, phase, or frequency
of the carrier is varied, the modulation scheme is called M-
ary ASK, M-ary PSK, or M-ary FSK.

In an M-ary signaling scheme, two or more bits are
grouped together to form symbols and one of M possible
signals, s
1
(t), s
2
(t),,s
M
(t) is transmitted during each
symbol period of duration T
s
.

M-ary modulation schemes achieve better bandwidth
efficiency at the expense of power efficiency.
102
6.10.1 M-ary Phase Shift Keying (MPSK)
103
104
105
6.10.2 M-ary Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM)

* In M-ary PSK, the envelop is a constant, thereby yielding a
circular constellation.

* By allowing the amplitude to also vary with the phase, a new
modulation scheme is called Quadrature Amplitude Modulation
(QAM)
106
* The power spectrum and bandwidth efficiency of QAM
modulation is identical to M-ary PSK modulation.

* In terms of power efficiency, QAM is superior to M-ary PSK.

107
6.10.3 M-ary Frequency Shift Keying (MFSK) and OFDM

* For a noncoherent MFSK, the channel bandwidth
(6.132)

* This implies that the bandwidth efficiency with M

* However, since all the M signals are orthogonal, there is no
crowding in the signal space, and hence the power efficiency
increases with M.
+ |
108
The orthogonality characteristic of MFSK has led to the
idea of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
(OFDM) as a means of providing power efficient signaling
for a large number of users on the same channel.

MFSK and OFDM are being explored for high speed
WLAN (IEEE 802.11a).
109
6.11 Spread Spectrum Modulation Techniques
Pseudo-Noise (PN) Sequences
110
Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DS-SS)
111
112
Frequency Hopped Spread Spectrum (FH-SS)
113
Performance of DSSS
114
Performance of FH-SS
115
6.12 Modulation Performance in Fading and
Multipath Channels.
116
Performance of Digital Modulation in Slow Flat-Fading
Channels
117
118
Digital Modulation in Frequency Selective Mobile
Channels.
119
120
Performance /4 of DQPSK in Fading and Interference
121
122
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